India Empire June 2015

CO N T E N T S

J u N E 2 015

OM The eternal sound p21

ONE YEAR AFTER A report on the Modi Government p08

YOGA IN AMERICA The rise of this ancient Indian culture p18

Scrips bee Born to spell p40

PEEPAL BABA SuCCESSFuL WOMEN DIRECTORS

Planting 12 million trees p32

NRIs script their own lofty tales p25 DIASPORA IN FICTION The new Indian characters p38 CHARITY BALL Southwark Councillor Chopra raises funds p13 GENIUS AT 11 Tanishq Abraham graduates p14 RUDY DOWN UNDER Minister visits Australia p16 NATURAL TREATMENT Research with plants p22

DIASPORA QUOTES

WhAt thEy SAy “#MasaanAtCannes is coming home with 2 awards. Thrilled. Thank you everyone for the wishes.”

—Richa Chadha, Actress

“You are doing this for maybe your individual career pursuits, but I also want to tell you how important it is to our two countries...”

—US Ambassador Richard Verma to students on Visa Day

“When the other kids are playing football or basketball, the Indians are doing spelling.”

—Pratyush Buddiga, 2002 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner

“We want to make our country a global hub for manufacturing and sourcing.”

—Civil Aviation Minister Mr Ashok Gajapathi Raju

"In its first year, the company only brought in $30,000 in revenue. Today, its market cap is well over USD 3 billion.”

—Ms Neerja Sethi, co-founder, Syntel

“This represents the ultimate in functional miniaturisation that can be achieved for an electronic device."

—Ms Latha Venkataraman, Columbia Engineeering Researcher

“This is a dream come true.

I can’t believe I’m up here.”

—Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, co-winner of Scripps National Spelling Bee 2015

“Odisha is on the growth path which needs to be sustainable and replicable, and irreversible.”

—Charudutta Panigrahi Founder, FIDR

“I am excited and over the moon.”

—Firoz Ismail Kanji, elected to the borough council of Weymouth, U.K.

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india empire | june 2015

Cover Story—A yeAr of NDA

ONE YEAR

STORY The last Indian election surprised everyone just as the recent one in Britain.

No one could imagine in their wildest imagination that the BJP would be victorious let alone with an absolute majority like the Conservative win in the UK

B

By Rami Ranger

oth elections caught pollsters and pundits by surprise. They had predicted hung Parliaments in both the countries with no party enjoying an absolute majority. The electorate proved them wrong on both occasions. We can safely say that both victories are the result of the charismatic leadership of Mr Modi in India and Mr Cameron in the UK. It just goes to prove leadership can not only capture the imagination of the public but also galvanise voters to vote, especially those who are reluctant voters.

From day one Mr Modi’s victory brought a new sense of optimism and pride amongst Indians. Their confidence touched new heights not seen in decades. Their morale and confidence was felt across the world especially amongst the huge Indian diaspora scattered in over 150 countries of the world. Modi mania has created confidence, respectability and pride in Indians about their culture, civilization and capability. Indians all over the world feel that they are now second to none. Mr Modi is reaching out to the NRIs to develop the Indian economy as never before. This is a sign of a great pragmatic leader who understands that India’s strength lies in every Indian, everywhere in the world.

In the first year the Modi Govt. has demonstrated that it is an outward looking government wishing to play an important role on the global stage. Soon after taking office, Mr Modi visited numerous countries from tiny ones in the Indian ocean to giants like Canada, USA, Germany, China, Japan and so on to connect with the people and governments of those countries as well as to infuse pride in the Indian population settled there in numbers. The effect has proved electric.

The world is looking to India as a partner capable of playing an important role in global politics to bring eco8

india empire | june 2015

nomic stability and also growth. Mr Modi has already signed an agreement with China worth $22 billion. South Korea has pledged $10 billion for infrastructure projects in India.

Japan will invest $35 billion over the period of five years.

On the defence and economic front, Mr Modi is getting 36 Rafael jet fighters from France, 3000 metric tons of uranium from Canada and 500 tons of uranium from Australia.

Russia has agreed to build ten more nuclear reactors in India. America will supply India with an aircraft carrier equipped with the most modern state of the art missile guidance system. India and Israel in partnership will build the most advanced anti-warship missiles. As a result, soon India will be a great military giant in the world. India is already the biggest buyers of arms in the world. Mr Modi is particularly keen to bolster India’s defence with 8 billion dollars set aside for construction of warships. There will be six nuclear submarines for the Indian Navy to combat the influence of the Chinese Navy in the Indian Ocean. In view of the increased threat from Pakistan, a new naval base named after Sardar Patel near Porbandar in Gujarat has been planned to strengthen surveillance and security apparatus in the region. In addition to it, India is developing Agni 6 missile and ICBM guidance system like China against warships and submarines. BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles have been given to Indian army to counter the Chinese in the North and North East of India. These missiles have the capability to hit targets hidden behind mountains.

In addition to that India is developing two new Islands in the Indian Ocean from a military point of view. This demonstrates Mr Modi’s commitment to make India selfreliant in defence.

Mr Modi has also offered 115 million people to have

bank accounts for the first time to give the poor of India the sense of pride and belonging to the financial systems of the wider world. Three Mega Life Insurance and Pension Projects have been set in motion to give the poor of India more financial security. In order to tackle corruption, a digital revolution is set to take place to make bureaucrats more transparent and accountable.

The “Make in India” campaign is aimed at making India a manufacturing hub, bring billions of dollars in investment and make India self-sufficient in the field of manufacturing. As a result, India’s economy is projected to grow at 7.6% this year and 7.7% in 2016 overtaking China. Indian foreign reserves now stand at over 330 billion dollars.

The Modi Government is building roads in the Himalayas and connecting the extreme ends of India. It has pledged to increase investment in the railways and air travel network. This is followed up with numerous infrastructure projects to build a sound foundation for the growth of the country for the longer term. Mr Modi has identified that for India to have a stable future it must have solid base for the increase in economic and industrial activity.

I hope the next year will be dedicated to empowering people in India by providing them with improved electricity, clean water and as Mr Modi has promised, toilets and improved sanitation facilities without which there will be a

Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Mr David Cameron have a chance to forge a long-term, synergetic relationship now that Mr Cameron has returned to power after the recent elections in the U.K.

hampering of growth and it will be bound to become more strained with the growing economy. By reducing red tape, the Prime Minister will also reduce corruption which stems from having too much interference from the bureaucrats. Importexport rules must be made user friendly where people can build international trading businesses to create wealth and employment in India.

In the field of education, Indian universities should be encouraged to forge strategic alliances with similar institutions in developed countries to keep Indian students abreast of what is going on in the rest of the world. Further investment in the education structure will make more Indians literate and able to compete with the rest of the world.

Prime Minister Modi has set ambitious objectives of vaccinating ever more children and adults against crippling diseases and has espoused the importance of prevention being better than cure.

The task ahead is a huge one but I am optimistic that in Prime Minister Modi India has the right leader who will change it and the psyche of Indians for good.

I wish the Modi Govt. every success in making India a force for good in the world. ❐ june 2015 | india empire

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Cover Story—A yeAr of NDA

Modi—The Rock Star During his first year in office Indian Prime Minister Modi has wooed and wowed the overseas Indians, writes Kul Bhushan

T

he Indian Diaspora is a major constituency and support for Prime Minister Narendera Modi. During his visits abroad since taking over the reins of the government a year ago, Modi has reinforced his rapport with overseas Indians in most of the countries he has toured. Significantly, he built on the close and personal relations he had with many overseas Indians as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Attending to their long standing grouses, he offered them many sops.

During this period, Modi toured abroad to attract Gujarati and also overseas Indians’ investments to Gujarat. After becoming Prime Minister, he promoted the entire subcontinent as an attractive destination for overseas Indians to visit, invest and contribute their skills and expertise. Significantly, he has also addressed their long standing complaints about speedy short term visas, lifelong visas by offering Overseas Indians Citizenship (OIC), granting visas for Non-Indians spouses and visa on arrival facility for the American citizens and electronic arrival authorisation. He merged Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and OIC to create a single category by removing the discrepancies and helping those whose spouses are of different nationality. NRIs will not report to the police if they stay in India for long periods. Visa applications can be made electronically and visa processing has been outsourced to issue faster and hassle free visas.

These benefits followed the intense lobbying for Modi before India’s general elections by overseas Indians in their countries of residence. No Indians election has generated more interest among the 27 million overseas Indians than the latest one. Overseas Indians seem to have a stake in Modi’s victory as they were fed up of the non-stop news of massive corruption scandals, lethargic government response and a docile foreign policy. Modi set the tone for his government by declaring that he would implement proactive policies. And he has. Most political analysts comment that he has given an edge to India’s foreign policy.

His coming out appearance for overseas Indi10 india empire | june 2015

ans happened in New York when Madison Square Garden overflowed with American ‘desi’ Indians as he was dubbed the rock star after his hour-long offthe-cuff speech that had everyone spell bound and rooting for him. Here was the new face and dynamic energy of India as Modi urged them to help develop their mother or grandmother land. This is not a new message from all former Indian leaders to overseas Indians but its smart packaging laced with homely anecdotes made a difference.

Instead of covering up for India as ‘a poor country’ as mentioned by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington, Modi declares India to be a young country with the youngest population and a 3D – Demography, Demand and Democracy – dividend. And he goes on to promote his major new initiatives such as Clean Ganga, Swacch Bharat’ or Clean India, Toilets for All, Digital India, Smart Cities, Bullet Trains, among others. Appealing to NRIs at a personal level, he invited them to join his numerous websites to suggest ideas and new projects for India’s progress. In the same vein, he urged them to persuade at least five of their friends to visit India to boost tourism ❐ and employment in India.

The Indian diaspora in Australia frankly went ballistic when Mr Modi visited the country

DIASPorA IN U.K.

KAnjI In WEymOUTh COUnCIl

By Sultan Jessa

B

eing persistent has finally brought success for an Ismaili who had been elected to the borough council of Weymouth in Britain.

Firoz Ismail Kanji (Oz Kanji) ran for Liberal Democrats in the just concluded elections.

“I am excited and over the moon,” Kanji told me.

“This is a massive victory for me. It feels great to be part of this community.”

Weymouth is in the county of Dorset. It is a small, seaside town in the south coast of England.

The population of this tourist resort is 65,000. The population mushrooms to between 150,000 and 200,000 during the peak tourist summer season.

Weymouth, on the Jurassic coast, played host to the 2012 sailing Olympics which elevated this small town to limelight throughout the sailing world. The first time Kanji ran for elections was five years ago when he lost by 15 votes. He contested local elections three times and came second every time.

This time Kanji won an absolute majority. The council has 36 elected officials made up of all political groups like the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour, Independents etc. Born and brought up in Tanzania, Kanji has lived in Weymouth since 1966.

After qualifying as a radio and television engineer, he worked for various companies until he took an early retirement in 2001. I have known personally Kanji for a very long time. We were childhood buddies, growing up and studying in northern Tanzania’s tourist resort of Arusha and later moving to Tanzania’s capital of Dar es Salaam to complete high school.

“I was welcome to Weymouth from day one,” he said. “I have been very happy here.”

12 india empire | june 2015

Firoz (Oz) Kanji with his wife Jane during a reunion function in Canada

He got married to Jane in 1971 and the couple has two daughters. Kanji got into politics in 2010 after petitioning local council against introduction of street meter parking. He has always advocated free one hour parking on the harbor front.

“I strongly believe this is essential for the survival of town’s business people,” he emphasized.

Kanji has also raised questions about reasonable bus service, flooding issues in South hill and an urgent need for safer crossing for the elderly and the dis-

“After a long discussion, I finally agreed. The campaign support was the best you could have wished for.” Kanji said main issues during this election were cars speeding through the community and public transportation abled. This time around Kanji was not sure about contesting council elections. But, his close friend, David Harris, persuaded him to give it another try.

Kanji was scheduled to go to hospital for a heart procedure.

Campaigning was tough, he said. Walking up and down hills was rough on him. “This was my priority,” he said. “After a long discussion, I finally agreed.

The campaign support was the best you could have wished for.” Kanji said main issues during this election were cars speeding through the community and public transportation.

Kanji’s older brother Nizar Ismail Kanji (NIK), a chartered accountant by profession, lives in Canada and served as national president of the Aga Khan ❐ Council.

Chopra’s Charity Ball Over 500 people came out to support Southwark’s Charity Ball in May in aid of the Mayor’s Charity Appeal 2014-2015 for The Robes Project and UK Homes 4 Heroes. Hosted by The Worshipful Mayor of Southwark, Councillor Sunil Chopra, the event was a huge success and the largest Southwark Charity Ball to date. The Mayor’s Charity Appeal 2014-2015 is currently on target to raise over £70,000, the largest amount ever raised in a mayoral charity appeal in Southwark. Councillor Sunil Chopra said, “I am delighted that my Charity Ball was such a success.

These are two charities that are very close to my heart and we must always be mindful of those less fortunate than ourselves. It has been one of the greatest privileges of my life to serve London’s most historic borough as Mayor and First Citizen and the fact that have we have raised so much money to help the homeless is my proudest achievement”.

The Charity Ball was held at the Guoman Tower Hotel, Tower Bridge, London. Guests enjoyed an Indian banquet meal and world class Bollywood entertainment.

june 2015 | india empire 13

DIASPorA IN U.K. AND USA

Wokingham’s Sikh Mayor Indian-origin councillor Mr Parvinder Singh Batth was chosen as the mayor of Britain’s Wokingham Borough Council, the first Sikh to hold the position, media reported on May 22, 2015.

“Being born in Punjab to a farming family, I come from a humble background,” he said while officially taking over his post.

“However I now feel even more humbled being chosen as the new mayor,” Get Reading online quoted Mr

Mr Parvinder Singh Batth

Batth as saying.

Councillor Batth named the children’s organisation “Arc” as this year’s chosen charity. The organisation aims to transform the lives of children through a range of education, health and child protection programmes. Since being founded in 2002, the charity has claimed to have helped more than 430,000 children worldwide. Mr Batth also thanked his wife for her support.

Genius at 11 An 11-year-old Indian-American kid, has graduated from a Californian college with three associate degrees in math, science and foreign language studies. At an age, when most kids of his age are busy scrolling through iPads or smartphones, this Indian American is different. Mr Tanishq Abraham is now the youngest person to graduate from American River College in Sacramento, California, KCRA Sacramento reported.

“This is not much of a big deal to me,” said Mr Abraham, who graduated with a 4.0 score and three associate degrees. Abraham not only plans to become a doctor, but also win a Nobel Prize. Besides, he wants to become the US president in future. “Three Associate college degrees - Awesome feeling - completed my first few baby steps to my BIG goal- @NobelPrize med doctor/researcher & @POTUS,” Mr Abraham tweeted.

Last year, he received his high school graduation diploma at a private ceremony in front of his friends and family. He even received a congratulatory letter from the US President Barack Obama. According to Mr Abraham, some of his fellow graduates were “intimidated” by him but “a lot were really happy that there was a kid in their class”.

“Even in kindergarten, he was pretty ahead, a few years ahead—and then it just went from there,” Abraham’s mother, Ms Taji Abraham, a veterinarian said. One of the best aspect of his graduation was his college graduation cap. The boy wrote his favourite “Toy Story” quote on the top of the cap:”2 Infinity and Beyond.” He later thanked his parents for their contributions to his learning—and posted several photos of himself and his family on Twitter having a meal at “my favourite restaurant’ to celebrate his graduation.

14 india empire | june 2015

Mr Tanishq Abraham

Mr Abraham was just four-years-old, when he was accepted to MENSA; a group for people whose Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is in the top two percent of the population.

His younger sister aged four also became a member. During his childhood, he wrote astronomy blogs for NASA. Exhilarated, Mr Abraham is planning to take an eight-week Calculus II course this summer and also a family vacation.

DIASPorA IN AUStrALIA

Rudy in Melbourne

By Kul Bhushan in New Delhi and Sudershan Gupta in Melbourne On 26 May 2015, the first anniversary of Prime Minister Modi’s government, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, the Minister for State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, addressed leaders of the Indian diaspora in Melbourne, Australia. He said it was a special day for his government.

He was leading a delegation of ten Indian MPs to Australia to follow up the successful visit of the Prime Minister and learn about several good practices in Australia.

Rudi, accompanied by his wife, said the Modi government had completed one year in office. Rudi praised the accompanying MPs from all parties but was hesitant to talk much about the BJP achievements.

Answering a question about what has been done for creating a skilled pool for the benefit of the developed world as outlined by Modi, he said that the government was focusing on skills development for the youth and had created a strong foundation to build on. The delegation earlier visited a skill development institute in Melbourne to observe it at work. These MPs were observing and learning a great deal and the Non-BJP ones may ultimately support the government in approving some new initiatives and bills. Two MPs are Arjuna awardees in soccer and hockey, both popular in Australia. The MPs dined on different tables to interact with the Australian Indians. Also present were a few Indian high commission officials.

On his first overseas official trip, the minister answered a number of questions about NRI issues and their relationship with India. He hoped to get their support for the new projects such as Make it India, Digital India, Clean India among others.

Members of the Indian diaspora said they were enjoying their life in a developed country like Australia and were willing to help India. A community leader claimed his association is supporting 1,400 students. He mentioned their donations for Nepal earthquake and Andhra cyclone, among other causes. Karan Singh, the trustee of a unique old age home for Indians, said this was the first such project in the Indian diaspora in partnership with the Dutch community. A smart village blue print was presented to the minister. The minister invited the Australian Indians to send in their suggestions for India’s progress.

The host and Master of Ceremonies was Vasan Srinivasan, the first Indian nominated to the Multi-Cultural Council of Australia. The Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria with membership of 28 bodies of the diaspora from most Indian states and Fiji, invited their top office bearers to an Indian restaurant for this meeting.

Every head of an association spoke briefly to welcome the Minister and his delegation and present their views. The 16 india empire | june 2015

Minister Rudy in Melbourne

federation gets an annual grant of a$75,000 from Victoria government.

More than 240,000 people in Australia are of Indian origin and around 52,000 Victorians were born in India.

A total of 84 Indian associations are registered in Victoria. A large number of students from India are studying for higher education in Victoria.

After Modi’s recent visit, NRIs are happy with Modi’s vision and getting more respect in Australia as compared during UPA rule. But the Australian media does not report positive Indian news like the Mars spaceship, the UN International Yoga Day after India’s proposal or the safe return of thousands of Indians from Iraq and Yemen.

The delegation arrived in Melbourne on 19 May 2015.

After Melbourne, they will travel to Canberra and Sydney and then to New Zealand. In Victoria, the delegation visited the state assembly welcomed by the speaker Telmo Languiller and President of the Legislative Council Bruce Atkinson. They explored the opportunities for deeper ties ❐ between the two countries.

PM’S DIAry PhotoGraPhS © SiPra DaS

PRIME MINISTER WATCH

Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi receives a special honour in the presence of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi leads over 35,000 volunteers on International Yoga Day at the Rajpath, New Delhi, which he said had turned into “Yogpath” june 2015 | india empire 17

yoGA IN USA

Rise of Yoga CultuRe in ameRiCa By inder Singh

I

ndia’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, during his address to UN General Assembly in September 2014, had asked world leaders to adopt an international Yoga day, saying “Yoga embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well being.” On December 11, 2014, the 193-member UN general assembly adopted a resolution by consensus, proclaiming June 21 as ‘International Day of Yoga’. The resolution was introduced by India’s ambassador to UN and had 175 UN members, including five permanent members of the UN Security Council, as co-sponsors.

Smithsonian, on October 19, 2013 opened an exhibition, “Yoga: The Art of Transformation” featuring temple sculptures, devotional icons, manuscripts and court paintings created in India over the past 2,000 years. Several artifacts displayed in the exhibit were borrowed from 25 museums and private collections in India, Europe and the United States.

Smithsonian also arranged guest teachers to teach yoga classes on Wednesdays and Sundays during the exhibit days. A symposium on yoga’s visual culture for scholars and enthusiasts was also organized. The exhibit was kept on view through Jan. 26, 2014, and then taken to the San Francisco Asian Art Museum for three months from Feburary 21, 2014 to May 25, 2014. The Cleveland Museum of Art had the exhibit from June 22, 2014 to September 7, 2014.

The White House has embraced Yoga as a worthy physical activity. The annual Easter Egg Roll is the largest public event held at the White House. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama made ‘Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You!’ as the theme for the April 1, 2014 event. They also in18 india empire | june 2015

Outside India, Yoga has the greatest following in the USA with over 20 million practitioners

cluded a ‘Yoga Garden’ on the Presidential lawn for children and their parents who attended the traditional Easter Egg Roll festivities and arranged a yoga session by professional instructors. The Obama family has turned the traditional event into an active family-oriented day, and included yoga since 2009 as part of the celebration.

For the last several years, yoga and meditation are becoming more acceptable in America. Americans have witnessed increase in yoga studios, meditation centers and vegetarian restaurants, all of which have roots in India. Several New Age gurus, who travel across the globe, have contributed to this popularity. In the United States, best-selling author Deepak Chopra has significantly contributed to Indian meditation philosophy and yoga going mainstream.

Yoga was first introduced to America by Swami Vivekananda who came to USA in 1893 to address the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. He made a lasting impact on the delegates and lectured at major universities and retreats during his stay of about four years. He started the Vedantic centre in New York in 1896 and taught Raja Yoga classes. He focused on the religious aspect of yoga, which dealt with how to use meditation to become closer to God. In 1920, Paramahansa Yogananda came as India’s delegate to the International Congress of Religious Leaders in Boston.

He established Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles.

Today, there are seven SRF centers in California where Yogananda’s meditation and Kriya yoga techniques are taught on regular basis. Again, his Kriya yoga technique is for the realization of God. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi brought yoga to the United States in 1959 in the form of Transcendental Meditation (TM). TM offered tangible yoga and became popular in reducing stress and fatigue. During 1960’s and 1970’s, TM became “the most widely practiced self-development program in the United States.”

Yogi Bhajan came to California in 1969 and started teaching “Kundalini Yoga, the Yoga of Awareness.” He was an inspiring teacher and developed a large following. Several of his followers became yoga teachers and some opened their yoga studios in various parts of the world, popularizing yoga for health and fitness. Thus began yoga evolution from spiritual to physical during the 1970s and 1980s.

B.K.S. Iyengar, considered one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world, was the founder of “Iyengar Yoga”.

He was the author of many books on yoga practice and was often referred to as “the father of modern yoga”. His book, Light on Yoga, is called “the bible of yoga” and has been the source book for yoga students. Iyengar brought yoga to the west in the 70s and started hundreds of yoga centers, teaching Iyengar yoga which focuses on the correct alignment of june 2015 | india empire 19

yoGA IN USA

the body within each yoga pose, making use of straps, wooden blocks, and other objects as aids in achieving the correct postures. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991, the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2014.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar established the international Art of Living Foundation in 1981, which is claimed to be operating in 140 countries. He has been promoting the Sudarshan Kriya, a rhythmic breathing yoga exercise.

Bikram Choudhary has earned fame and fortune by teaching yoga to Americans by opening heated yoga studios. His style of yoga is practiced in a room that has been preheated to a temperature of 105 deg F. Bikram Yoga is the 26 postures Sequence selected and developed by Bikram Choudhary from Hatha Yoga and is taught in 500 certified yoga studios all over the world.

Swami Ramdev is the most celebrated yoga teacher and has following which runs into millions. He has revolutionalized people’s thinking about yoga exercises. In 2003, India based Aastha TV began featuring him in its morning yoga slot.

Within a few years, he attained immense popularity and developed a huge following. His yog-camps are attended by a large number of people in India and abroad. His Pranayam exercises – a set of breathing exercises – are promoted to bring about balance between the body and mind. Regular practitioners claim numerous benefits.

Yoga, once an elusive practice has surged in popularity and its impact is everywhere: in movies, television, advertising, and schools. Yoga is marketed as a series of asanas (postures) that make you fit and help in weight loss. Many Americans have incorporated yoga routines as an essential part of their work out routine. America is now dotted with yoga gyms and studios providing easy access to everyone, including business executives and Hollywood celebrities. Several studies have shown that yoga also reduces blood pressure, back pain, relieves 20 india empire | june 2015

stress and improves overall health. Several doctors recommend yoga to their cancer patients during and after treatment.

Over twenty million people in America practice yoga (As per a study by Yoga Journal in 2012). It thus has become as mainstream of an exercise as walking.

There are countless people who are making a positive difference through yoga. Hundreds of yoga websites have all kind of information about yoga, from health and wellness to spiritual and show simple to complex poses. Yoga studios are mushrooming in cities across America. Several entrepreneurs are flourishing in this $30 billion industry. They publish yoga magazines, yoga books, produce TV shows, make DVDs, video games and apps, manufacture yoga clothes, yoga artifacts, yoga furniture and furnishings, yoga foods, yoga tea, yoga energy bars, and hundreds of products and services.

There are also many yoga experts and teachers who have gained prominence in this multi-billion dollar industry. The proliferation of yoga schools, DVDs, and internet has made yoga easily accessible by one and all.

Yoga has gone through several ups and downs during the last fifty years but now has earned well deserved respect and recognition. At its core, yoga is both a physical and spiritual practice. But for most Americans, yoga is an exercise system that consists of a series of poses, postures and positions. Over twenty million Americans practice some form of yoga to stay ❐ fit and healthy.

—Inder Singh regularly writes and speaks on Indian Diaspora.

He is Chairman of Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). He was president of GOPIO from 2004-2009, president of National Federation of Indian American Associations(NFIA) from 1988-92 and chairman from 1992-96. He was founding president of Federation of Indian Associations in Southern California.

He is the author of The Gadar Heroics – life sketches of over 50 Gadar heroes. He can be reached at indersingh-usa@hotmail.com

CoLUMN: yoGI AShwINI

MIND AND BoDy

Om—The eTernAl sOund

By Yogi Ashwini YoGi aShwiNi

W

hat is it about ‘om’ that its chant creates such strong vibrations in our body? Why ‘om’ and why not any other sound? What is so special about specific sounds?

Some 3000 to 3500 years back, Rishi Atreya propounder of Samnkhya Philosophy explained the concept of anu and paramanu, of cell division and multiplication. Our body from head to toe is comprised of small particles called anu.

When a single param anu vibrates, it emits a sound and transfers it to another similar param anu that matches its frequency. This way all the param anus of similar sound frequency come together and make up an anu, this is the first stage of development of a cell. Each cell too has a sound of its own. As and when this changes, accordingly, different organs of the body develop. That is, every organ functions on a particular sound and is constituted by the cells emitting a specific frequency of sound. For example, the cell of liver has a specific sound which is distinct from that of the heart.

The people who do yog sadhna, when they go in a state of antarmaun, they are able to hear the different sounds made by different organs, it is audible very clearly. However, these sounds are not audible to our ears, they can only be heard by the ones who are doing yog and it is these sounds that tell whether a part of the body is healthy or unhealthy. A disturbance in sound indicates an imbalance, whereas if it follows its natural rhythm it is indicative of health.

Just like the body, sounds are also emitted by the house you live in, your office, cars and even the stones that many people wear…It is said that stones, especially diamonds, should not be worn just like that. Do you know why? Let us figure out...

Whenever there is a problem in the house, the first thing that happens is diamonds are sold off. Take any war in history, when the plunderers come to a country, the first thing they do is loot the diamonds. So many murders, so many fights, so many deceits and treacheries have been committed for diamonds. A diamond has seen all that…

And how is a diamond made? It is made from coal, which is nothing but dead remains of bodies that lived many billions of years ago. The body is your body in which you reside. When a person dies, the body is either buried or cremated and whatever is left of the body starts getting deposited little by little inside the earth. Under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure within the earth over a

period of lakhs of years, it gets converted into coal which again under pressure gets transformed into a diamond.

Think of all the emotions that are packed inside that diamond - the emotions of the body, which during life would have gone through so many pains, disease and emotional turmoil on an everyday basis. All these emotions are carried by the cells when the body is alive, then the body perishes – the pain of leaving the body, too, getting stored in the cells. After years of heat and pressure, these cells become a diamond and go to someone’s house. Then when there is trouble in that person’s house, the diamond is resold adding to itself the pains and troubles of that house. Next it reaches someone else who is happy to have another diamond in his collection. The diamonds in his house attract jealousy and envy of others. A person who has too many diamonds, it means he has forcibly kept the share of other people with himself through fraud, lies, cheating etc. What happens to such a person, how do the diamonds leave his house? Stealing is a recent phenomenon. In olden times, invaders would come inside the houses and take away children, women and diamonds. And wherever they took these diamonds, they did not last there for long because all of these were nomadic tribes that kept fighting among each other and looting and killing the other for wealth and power.

So a diamond has seen and collected all those heavy emotions for many lakhs of years.

When you have time and if you have diamonds at home put them against your ear and hear what sound they make.

You will be surprised at what you hear. Describing those sounds here will amount to autosuggestion, so I will not do it but those sounds will scare you…you will not want to wear diamonds again in your life. The sparkle of a diamond is the sparkle of extreme energy or force. The diamond is in fact related to the Sun. The energy of the sun causes carbon formation. So in effect the diamond is formed from the sun. As long as you are not in harmony with the sun’s rhythm, you should not even touch a diamond to your body. A perfect example is the exquisite Kohinoor, it is famous that whoever has worn that diamond has faced destruction. This is the reason why the British monarchs never wear it on their crown. ❐ They have kept it with them, but do not wear it.

—The writer Yogi Ashwini Ji is the head of Dhyan Foundation, Delhi. For details contact: ashwiniyogi@yahoo.co.in

june 2015 | india empire 21

SCIeNCe AND reSeArCh

AlzhEImER’S nEW fInDIngS Memories lost due to traumatic brain injury, stress, or diseases such as Alzheimer’s may be retrieved by activating brain cells with light, shows a promising study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers, including one of Indian-origin. The findings by Mr Dheeraj Roy and colleagues may help answer a fiercelydebated question in neuroscience.

Neuroscience researchers have for many years debated whether retrograde amnesia—which follows traumatic injury, stress, or diseases such as Alzheimer’s—is caused by damage to specific brain cells, meaning a memory cannot be stored, or if access to that memory is somehow blocked, preventing its recall. “The majority of researchers have favoured the storage theory, but we have shown in this paper that this majority theory is probably wrong,” said Mr Susumu Tonegawa, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Amnesia is a problem of retrieval impairment,” Mr Tonegawa said. In the study, mice were first trained to associate a mild foot shock with a specific environment, known as chamber A, eliciting a typical “freezing” behaviour. Eventually, trained mice would “freeze” in chamber A even without the shock. Brain cells activated during memory formation were genetically labeled with a blue light-sensitive protein to allow their visualisation and re-activation.

Some mice were then given a chemical called anisomycin to induce retrograde amnesia, which follows traumatic brain injury, stress, or diseases such as Alzheimer’s in humans. Other mice received saline as a control. As expected, amnesiac mice did not “freeze” after returning to chamber A, indicating that they could

not recall the memory for the specific association of the chamber and the mild foot shock.

Next, the mice were put in a novel, neutral environment called chamber B and a technology involving using blue light pulses was used to selectively activate brain cells that were genetically labelled during their training in chamber A. When the cells, collectively called a “memory engram”, were activated, the amnesiac mice froze again, just as the control mice, the researchers said.

“Our conclusion is that in retrograde amnesia, past memories may not be erased, but could simply be lost and inaccessible for recall. These findings provide striking insight into the fleeting nature of memories, and will stimulate future research on the biology of memory and its clinical restoration,” said Mr Tonegawa. The study was published in the journal Science.

treAtING NAtUrALLy An Indian researcher currently pursuing Ph.D in Australia is conducting a study to test the use of plants in the treatment of diabetes and cancer, a media report said on May 27, 2015. Dr Vandana Gulati, who is currently pursuing her Ph.D at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology and was involved with pharmaceutical research in India after completing her masters in ayurvedic pharmacy, has investigated 12 medicinal plant extracts and their applications in treatment of diabetes and cancer, reported Melbourne-based Indian Link newspaper.

“When we moved here, we found that people had reservations about the effectiveness of plant-based research. There were a few groups working in this field, however, majority were not receptive to the idea,” she said. Previous studies have found that diabetes and cancer are linked, as the risk of low insulin in diabetes affects the growth of cancer cells. Preliminary research has shown that witchetty bush (Acacia kempeana) and Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) stimulate glucose uptake in fat cells, while dead finish (Acacia tetragonophylla), turpentine bush (Beyeria Ieshnaultii) and caustic weed (Euphorbia drumondii) significantly reduced fat accumulation in 22 india empire | june 2015

fat cells. The witchetty bush and dead finish also showed strong activity against cervical cancer cells.

“There are still many experiments that need to be completed on the cells, followed by testing on animals and finally a trial on humans directly. However, we are very positive of the outcome,” Dr Gulati added.

New molecular device A team of Columbia Engineering researchers led by an Indian-American scientist Ms Latha Venkataraman has created a single-molecule electronic device which has a potential of real-world technological applications for nanoscale devices. Under the direction of Ms Venkataraman, researchers created a single-molecule diode which performs 50 times better than all prior designs.

Constructing a device where the active element is only a single molecule, has long been a tantalising dream in nanoscience. “Our new device represents the ultimate in functional miniaturisation that can be achieved for an electronic device,” said Ms Venkataraman. With electronic devices becoming smaller every day, the field of molecular electronics has become more critical in solving the problem of further miniaturisation. Single molecule represents the limit of miniaturisation.

The idea of creating a single-molecule diode was suggested by Arieh Aviram and Mark Ratner who theorised in 1974 that a molecule could act as a rectifier, a one-way conductor of electric current. “It is amazing to be able to design a functioning single molecular circuit,” Ms

Ms Latha Venkataraman

Venkataraman said. She and her team are now working on understanding the fundamental physics behind their discovery and trying to increase the rectification ratios they observed, using new molecular systems.

The report was published on May 25 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

GOPIO International President Mr Ashook Ramsaran presents a copy of the book Global Indian Diaspora---GOPIO Making An Impact to Mr N.K. Mishra, Minister, Community Affairs, Embassy of India in the USA

june 2015 | india empire 23

eNtrePreNeUrShIP

successful

women

direcTors

has had since the company’s inception.”

Ms Sethi, a mother of two, also sits on the board of directors of the company alongside her husband, who remains chairman. “Born in India, Sethi holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics, a master’s degree in computer science, and an MBA in operations research. Through their family foundation, the couple pledged USD 1 million in 2014 to the University of Michigan to develop a start-up accelerator,” the profile reads.

London-born Jayshree Ullal was raised in New Delhi, and took over computer networking company Arsita Networks in California as president and chief executive officer in 2008, when it had less than 50 Ms Neerja Sethi Ms Jayshree Ullal employees, transforming it to one of Siliwo Indian-origin women have made it to the con Valley’s most valuable networking firms by 2014. “Ullal, Forbes list of America’s 50 most successful and who owns more than 10 percent of Arista’s shares, is one of self-made women. India-born Ms Neerja Sethi, America’s wealthiest female executives. She took slightly 60, is ranked 14th with a net worth of USD 1.1 more than an engineering team doing some good technolbillion, while London-born Ms Jayshree Ullal, ogy and turned it into the thriving network switch company 54, is ranked 30th with a net worth of USD 470 it is today,” Forbes quoted Arista co-founder Mr David million in the inaugural “Most Successful, Self- Cheriton as saying.

Mr Cheriton and fellow co-founder Mr Andreas von Made Women in the US” list.

Ms Elizabeth Anne Holmes, CEO of blood diagnostics Bechtolsheim had previously worked with Ms Ullal at Cisco, company Theranos, tops the list with a net worth of USD where she spent 15 years. She had earlier served as vice 4.5 billion. According to Forbes magazine, “to be eligible president of marketing at Crescendo Communications, for this list, women had to have substantially made their which Cisco acquired in 1993. Ms Ullal, also a mother of own fortunes. In cases where they started businesses with, two, got an electrical engineering degree at San Francisco and still share with, their husbands, we’ve assigned them State University and a master’s degree in engineering manhalf of that combined wealth”. agement at Santa Clara University. “Ullal has donated some Ms Neerja Sethi, an entrepreneur, is an alumnus of shares to a family foundation created in honor of her sister, Delhi University and co-founded an IT consulting and out- who died of lung cancer. She has also earmarked some of sourcing company, Syntel, with her husband, billionaire her holdings for her two children as well as her niece and Bharat Desai in 1980. “In its first year, the company only nephew,” her profile reads. brought in $30,000 in revenue. Today, its market cap is well The first edition of “The Most Successful, Self-Made over USD 3 billion, and it has 24,000 employees world- Women in the US” released by renowned financial and busiwide,” Forbes stated in her profile. “Ms Sethi served as Syn- ness magazine Forbes, includes Ms Oprah Winfrey, Ms tel’s treasurer during its first 16 years of operations and is Madonna and Ms Nora Roberts. At least 15 women on the currently the vice president of corporate affairs, a role she list were born outside the US. ❐

T

june 2015 | india empire 25

eNtrePreNeUrShIP

IndIA needs

enTrepreneurs

By Amit Kapoor The Narendra Modi government completed one year in office on May 25, 2015. One of the centerpieces of why the BJP-led NDA dispensation came to power was is its focus on development and governance. Development, industrialization and jobs are intrinsically linked to entrepreneurship. The greater the number of entrepreneurs in a society the greater will be the chances of prosperity for the people residing in it. Entrepreneurship is critical as it also leads to innovation, betterment in the quality of life and greater social progress within a society.

While it is worthwhile to notice that the present government has for the first time introduced a Ministry of Entrepreneurship (with Skill Development), the fact remains that India’s record is at best poor at nurturing entrepreneurs and creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Can the present government dream of creating the next Silicon Valley?

That would require taking stock of the present reality in the entrepreneurial space necessary for betting conditions in the future. India’s position on global indices as well on several other indicators of entrepreneurship at present is alarming. Though the present government is taking steps to better some of these, the approach seems to be piecemeal.

The GEI (Global Entrepreneurship Index 2015) places India at a dismal 104th rank below all the BRICS economies that stood thus (China-61, Russia-70 and Brazil-100). The best-performing country on the Index is unsurprisingly, the US. On the three pillars too which make up the composite

26 india empire | june 2015

index, India performs relatively better on Entrepreneurial Attitude pillar, (95), at an average level on the Entrepreneurial Aspiration pillar (104) and relatively poorly on the Entrepreneurial Ability pillar (107).

Another major study undertaken in 2013, on Indian entrepreneurship is The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). It pointed out that the entrepreneurial attitude (particularly on viewing entrepreneurship as a desirable career choice), relatively speaking with other BRICS economies was low in India. Only 61 percent of the adults in the sample (in the age bracket of 18-64) looked at entrepreneurship as a desirable career option. The figure was 70 percent in BRICs economies and 77 percent in factor-driven economies.

Also, the same study used a measure of total TEA - Total Early Stage Entrepreneurial Activity.

This is described in the study as the percentage of individuals in the sample age between 18 and 64 years who are in the process of either starting a new business or have recently started one. India performed relatively poorly on this measure in comparison to other BRICS countries, with only Russia behind it.

The data in enterprise surveys from the World Bank reveals an interesting story. The new firm density described by the enterprise surveys as number of new corporations created per 1,000 working age (16-64 years) individuals is found to be dismally low in India. â??

INveStMeNt

Investment—Choice cities Almost 80 percent of non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) want to buy apartments in India, with Bengaluru and Mumbai being the most preferred choices, a survey has revealed. The poll showed that 79 percent of the buyers were interested in buying apartments as compared to plots, villas or commercial property in India, with 72 percent planning to purchase the property in the next six months, Arabian Business online reported.

“Today, Bengaluru is a much sought after city with NRIs returning to India. Many are keen on making the city their home,” Mr Sunil Jaiswal, President of Sumansa Exhibitions that conducted the research said.

“The city has evinced so much interest among NRIs of late that even those who have not had the occasion to visit the city have plunged into investments in real estate here. It is most popular among techies and skilled professionals,” Mr Jaiswal added. Following Bengaluru and Mumbai, NRI property investors also considered Chennai, Pune, Cochin, Delhi, Hyderabad, Navi Mumbai, Goa

and Ahmedabad. The survey showed that 67 percent of buyers were in the age group of 31-50 years. The UAE is home to around 2.6 million expatriate Indians, according to Indian embassy figures.

Desilting Stillwaters Students from the University of Michigan are developing a low-cost way to increase crop yield and reduce the use of fertilizers for Indian farmers. In a year-long study in India’s southeastern state of Telangana, the students are using silt dug up from ponds during the dry season as fertilizer for farm fields. The results are stunning: The silt reduced the use of fertilizers by 36 percent and increased the crop yield by nearly 50 percent. “The most striking finding is that it reduces greenhouse emissions from less fertilizer use by 50-to-90 percent,” said John Monnat, a graduate student in U-M’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

The idea for the project started with Mr Adithya Dahagama, a graduate student in the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment, whose father is a farmer in the region. Mr Dahagama worked with the Hyderabad-based nonprofit FREEDOM on a similar project before coming to U-M. There’s been no comprehensive study conducted to see if silt application worked, and what were the successes,” said Mr Dahagama, who is pursuing a dual degree at SNRE and the Ford School of Public Policy. Local officials have noticed the results. Last year, the Telangana Government introduced Mission Kakatiya—a large-scale program to desilt 46,000 ponds over the next five years. The impact will be felt across 11,000 villages and will affect 21 million villagers.

While the government has not acknowledged if the results from U-M students led to Mission Kakatiya, they have supported the research by the students. These ponds, built in the region around the 13th century, store rainwater from the monsoon season and form an intricate part of farming in the area. Over time, silt has been filling the ponds, reducing their

capacity. Most of the desilting of the ponds happens during the summer months when the tanks are dry.

Mr Monnat and Mr Dahagama also worked with Mr Leon Espira, a student in U-M’s School of Public Health. They were part of the Dow Sustainability Fellows program at the U-M Graham Sustainability Institute. “I would never have gotten a chance to learn about a new country and look at the impact of our program otherwise,” Mr Espira said.

Espira, who grew up in Kenya, is exploring the health effects of desilting the ponds. He said that Telangana has some of India’s highest amount of cases of fluorosis, which darkens the teeth and leaves bones crooked.

The researchers are also working with the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture in Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana, to collect and test soil and water samples before and after desilting. june 2015 | india empire 27

oDIShA wAtCh

gAlVAnISIng ODIShA

Smart Odisha Roundtable was an in-depth, intellectual dialogue amongst national and international experts, practitioners, stakeholders on Governance and Development in Odisha organized by FIDR, the mission of Smart Odisha is to forge and operate an independent, non-profit think tank dedicated to strategic thinking and action on the transformation of Odisha to a developed economy. The Roundtable was held on 20th May, 2015 at Hotel Trident in Bhubaneswar.

The day started at 5p.m with registration, post which the opening session commenced. The key speakers of the evening were: 1. Sri Prem Das Rai, Member of Parliament, Sikkim 2. Sri R.N Das, IAS, Advisor, State Planning Board, Odisha 3. Sri Upendra Nath Behera, IAS, Development Commissioner, Odisha 4. Fr Paul Fernandes S.J, Founder and First Vice Chancellor, Xavier University 5. Dr Sambit Patra, Dalit champion & Founder Swaraj 6. Dinesh Chand, Swaniti Initiative On behalf of Smart Odisha Mr. Siddhartha Behera welcomed the guests to the Round table which is an innovative initiative in Odisha and aims to partner with institutions (state, national and global) and the governments with the objective to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on the research, to provide innovative, practical policy recommendations. These recommendations in conjunction with the public, private and peoples’ endeavors are intended to culminate in a Smart Odisha, in the true sense. He explained that the platform is also an opportunity to create an inclusive collective which is aimed at all round development of Odisha.

Charudatta Panigrahi:Unfolding Smart Odisha Mr. Charudutta Panigrahi, Founder FIDR, explained that Smart Odisha is based on a few tenets and one of them is the importance of data analysis and data-centric policy ini28 india empire | june 2015

tiatives. This is because Odisha is fast emerging as one of the important states of India. Odisha is on the growth path which needs to be sustainable and replicable, and irreversible.

And there needs to be guiding collective or an Inclusive think tank taking care of the diversity, plurality of governance in â??

Odisha.

StUDyING ABroAD

Chandni Chowk to China An increasing number of Indian students are coming to study in China, mostly in the medical field, while the number of Chinese students studying in India is holding steady, media reported on May 25, 2015. According to China’s education ministry, India has in recent years remained one of the top 10 sources of international students in China, China Daily reported.

Last year, 13,578 Indian students were studying in China, compared with only 765 a decade ago. Eighty percent of them were following undergraduate clinical medical courses in different medical institutions in China, the Indian embassy in Beijing said. The second most sought after course for the Indian students is Chinese language and culture, the embassy said. Ms Bhawna Bhatnagar, 26, who is studying Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University, said she has a lot of interest in Chinese culture. “And, as Indian and Chinese civilisations are two of the oldest in the world, it’s interesting to study them and learn the similarities and differences,” she said.

Studying courtesy the support of a Chinese government scholarship, Ms Bhatnagar said she was happy overall with her studies. “I am satisfied with the scholarship, which I think provides most of the things I need to live here comfortably,” she added. Another woman from India is studying Chinese language and literature in China as she wants to learn the language in its native country. “Just as a Chinese proverb says: Seeing once is better than hearing

a hundred times,” she said, adding that her study and stay in China had been a wonderful experience, and she would like to have a job related to China in the future.

The number of Chinese students in India has remained steady, but “very low”, at about 2,000 for the last few years, according to the Indian embassy. A majority of Chinese students in India are studying at undergraduate levels in diverse subjects, with Hindi language being a favourite. Mr Zhong Jiacheng, a student from China’s Jiangxi province, is studying e-commerce at India’s Vellore Institute of Technology.

US Visa Day Over 4,000 Indian students who had applied for visas to pursue education in the United States were interviewed at various US missions across India on the occasion of its annual Student Visa Day, an official said on May 28, 2015.

The US Embassy in New Delhi and consulates-general in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad opened their doors exclusively for the student visa applicants on May 28 with a congratulatory message from US Ambassador Richard R. Verma.

Around 1,300 visa hopeful youngsters were interviewed in the US Consulate Mumbai even as US student visa applications registered a 60 percent increase this year in India. Last year, around 103,000 Indian students secured admissions in US institutions of higher education, making them the second largest group of foreign students after China. “Indian students are a great asset to United States universities and colleges. Both countries benefit greatly when our students study and learn together,” Mr Verma said in his message.

The Student Visa Day was conducted in an informative, festive, collegiate atmosphere, with consulate staffers dressed in their school colours, with college songs and pop music played in the background. In Mumbai, representatives of partners, including the United States-India Educational Foun-

dation, the Indo-American Education Society, the American Library, and recent US graduates, fielded student queries on various aspects of student life in the US. “It has been an honour to meet India’s future leaders today (May 28, 2015) at Student Visa Day. I am continually impressed by the caliber of Indian students that I meet, and amazed by what they contribute to both India and the world,” Mr Verma remarked after interacting with some student visa applicants in the US Embassy in New Delhi. june 2015 | india empire 29

DIPLoMACy

Verma hands Visas US Ambassador Richard R. Verma on May 28 said Indian students played an important role in helping build closer ties between the two countries.

“You are doing this for maybe your individual career pursuits, but I also want to tell you how important it is to our two countries, as we both are building closer and closer relations as the president and prime minister have been working on,” Mr Verma said on the occasion of Student Visa Day here. “The work that you do at your individual level is important and what you are doing is (pulling) our two countries together and that’s a great thing for peace and prosperity,” he added.

Marked by the US Embassy, the Student Visa Day saw Verma interacting with students and handing over passports to two students with issued visas, going to the United States to pursue higher studies. Last year Indian students in the US contributed USD 3.3 billion to the US economy. According

to a fact sheet issued by the embassy, the nearly 1,03,000 Indian students in the US are more than double the number of students 15 years ago, with student visa applications across India increasing by 60 percent last year. It added that 78 per cent of Indian students opt to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Engineering is the most popular major, followed by computer science.

Addressing students, Mr Verma said that interaction between people Mr Richard from different countries tends to R. Verma break down stereotypes. “People get educated, people learn a lot. And I think the benefits the American students will have from all of you, is that they hear about your backgrounds and your stories...learning takes place between the students which is just as impactful as the learning that comes from the teachers,” he said.

Das sri Lankan envoy The Singapore Government has appointed Indian-origin Mr S. Chandra Das, a former Member of Parliament and diplomat, as Singapore’s non-resident high commissioner to Sri Lanka, a media report said on May 28, 2015.

Mr Das served as Singapore’s ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, resident in Singapore from 2006 to 2015. He had also previously served as Singapore’s trade representative to the former Soviet Union from 1970 to 1972 and also as Member of Parliament from 1980 to 1996, The Straits Times reported. He will assume his new position pending his presentation of credentials to Sri Lanka, the ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement. Mr Das was conferred the Distinguished Service (Star) Award by the National Trades Union Congress in 2005.

30 india empire | june 2015

Mr S. Chandra Das

tree PLANtING

peepal Baba plants 12 Kenya had her Wangari Maathai who won a Nobel prize for planting trees and helping women and now India has Peepal Baba who has planted twelve million trees across the subcontinent, reports Kul Bhushan

Twelve million is a humungous number. When this number represents new trees planted all over India, it becomes very significant. This change has been made possible by an Osho sannyasi, Swami Prem Parivartan, who is living up to his name but is more popularly known as Peepal Baba. For the World Environment Day on 5 June, here is a positive story instead of doomsday articles on destroying ecology.

Swami Prem Parivartan has been planting trees since the age of ten.

He has planted over 12 million shade trees in the past 39 years. He is the founder trustee of Give Me Trees Trust, an environmental charity devoted to planting trees. He considers planting trees as a celebration of life and an essential part of his spiritual journey, inspired by his master, Osho. Here are excerpts from his conversation with Kul Bhushan.

Planting trees is my way of bringing people across the country to listen and understand Osho. It is my meditation camp for those who understand the language of trees. It is an introduction to Osho and his message of connecting us to ‘Nisarga’ or nature.

The start: My romance with Osho started when I was 10 years old. I had the first glimpse of my Master in 1977, when I first visited the Pune commune along with some relatives.

A Master crafts his disciple in miraculous ways. Osho destroyed a lot of things around me and re-engineered my life.

Sanyas changed my gears from within and gave me the strength to take steps to pursue my hobby of planting trees across the country.

Early life: I was born as Azad Jain in 1966 in Chandigarh.

32 india empire | june 2015

My father was serving in the Indian Army as a Doctor which meant moving from one military station to the other every two years. At a very young age I got to travel and a lot and understand my country and the environment around me.

At school: When I was at school in Kirkee Military Station, near Pune, I had a wonderful teacher named Mrs. Williams who taught us geography. She inspired me to plant trees. In 1977, at the age of 10, I started planting trees and planted my first tree on Range Hills Road at Kirkee Military Station. Today, I am 49 years old and have planted over 12 million trees across the country.

Journalist: I completed my post graduation in English Literature in 1988 and a post graduation program in Mass Communications and Journalism in 1989. For 13 years, I worked with newspapers, media agencies and corporate communications with multinational companies. I left the corporate sector on July 31, 2003 to take to planting trees as a full time work.

Why Peepal?: I had been planting Peepal trees in large numbers and gradually came to be popularly known as Peepal Baba. My focus is on planting shade trees instead of ornamental or landscaping trees. Our work is totally managed by volunteers. Our network of friends across the country helps us plant and maintain saplings even in remote corners of the country.

Osho Camps: I started conducting Osho Meditation Camps in 2003 for Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir. For nearly four years, I travelled through the state interacting with soldiers and civilians. But it was my work of planting trees in the state that

million trees

gave me the breakthrough. People easily connect with trees. It is a secular subject. It does not bring any god or religion into discussion. I started talking of trees and gradually introducing Osho into the lives of thousands of my friends and followers. My camps came to be popularly known as ‘Tree Meditation Camps’.

Environment push: I made Mayur Vihar in Delhi as my base. Here, I established a small plant nursery and started teaching children, college students, families who came visiting, about tree planting, environment, soil preservation, waste management, recycling, water harvesting, composting, organic farming through an organization named Osho Paryavaran Paathshala (Osho Environment School).

Social media helped me to reach out to more people across the country. Today, I have more than 9,000 people connected with me in the digital world. I have volunteers from remote mountain villages to Dalal Street in Mumbai. We connect with our volunteers through our website www.givemetrees.org Osho and Environment: Environment has been a much neglected area of positive action. As an Osho disciple, I always felt that if I have to do justice to my Master I have to plant trees and get other people to do likewise, for the rest of my life.

Whenever I visit Oshodham or Pune Commune, the trees ask me if I am doing what I should be doing. ❐

So impressed was Bollywood star John Abraham with Peepal Baba’s work that the star gifted him a motor cycle for his travels across India

PEEPAL TREE: WHY IS IT SACRED? Peepal tree (Ficus religiosa or sacred fig) is very sacred in India. The Hindu scriptures mention it; in the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna declares of all the trees, he is the Peepal. Hindus in India hold a great spiritual regard for the Peepal Tree, they regard it as the tree beneath which Vishnu was born. People tie threads of white, red and yellow silk around it to pray for progeny and rewarding parenthood.

Lord Buddha attained enlightenment mediating under the Peepal tree. So it is also known as Bodhi Tree. According to the Buddha, ‘He who worships the Peepal tree will receive the same reward as if he worshiped me in person’.The site is in present day Bodh Gaya in Bihar, visited by millions from the Far East every year.

The leaves of this tree move continuously even when the air around is still and no wind is blowing. This phenomenon can be explained due to the long leaf stalk and the broad leaf structure. However, religious minded people in Hindu/ Buddhist religion attribute this movement of the leaves to the fact that “devas” or “gods” reside on these leaves and make it move continuously. This fact is also mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita as a verse “O Ashvatha, I honor you whose leaves are always moving...

Sadhus (Hindu ascetics) still meditate beneath sacred fig trees, and Hindus do pradakshina (circumambulation, or meditative pacing) around the sacred fig tree as a mark of worship.

Peepal tree is of great medicinal value.

Its leaves serve as a wonderful laxative as well as tonic for the body. It is especially useful for patients suffering from Jaundice. It helps to control the excessive amount of urine released during jaundice.

The leaves of Peepal are highly effective in treating heart disorders. It helps to control the palpitation of heart and thereby combat the cardiac weakness. Ayurveda makes an extensive use of the leaves for about 50 disorders including asthma, diabetes, diarrhea, epilepsy, gastric problems, and sexual disorders.

june 2015 | india empire 33

INDIAN ArrIvAL DAy

CelebraTionS in

TriniDaD

By Paras ramoutar

a

midst the colourful spectacular, parades, speeches, moments of solemnity, prayers and reflection in communities and nationally, Trinidad and Tobago celebrated a milestone occasion on May 30, 2015 marking the 170th anniversary of the arrival of East Indians principally from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Between 1845 and 1917, approximately 148,000 East Indians traversed the choppy seas for three months to come here with the sole purpose of enhancing the economic and social conditions, mainly arresting the decaying agricultural capacity.

President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr Justice Anthony Carmona, whose wife Ms Reema is of East Indian extraction, in his message, pointed out that East Indian culture is characterized and driven by a deep sense of spirituality. “The teachings of Indian holy texts have instilled and embedded in our citizens, positive social values such as humility, respect for elders, sacrifice, hard work and vision. These are essential tools for any nation on its path to meaningful progress.”

President Carmona noted that the East Indian way of life, has notonly survived but, has soared over its 170 years of existence, entering mainstream culture without losing its quintessence. “The mores of East Indian influence continue to maintain their vibrancy and rightful place in the Republic. The eclectic music, spicy foods, colourful dress, ideals and values, endemic to East Indian culture, continue to buttress and support the international uniqueness of Trinidad and Tobago culture, easily recognizable throughout the world,” President Carmona said.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the first woman and a Hindu, whose forebears were sourced from Bihar, in her address, pointed out that the East Indians remain one of the pillars of this model nation. “Victory came not by summoning the things that defined our ethnicity, but rather the things that defined our humanity.” She said that while the emotional connection to India remained strong, Trinidad and Tobago became the new home to which we pledged our hearts and passions.

Ms Persad-Bissessar pledges to continue her work to deliver a political system where merit and ideas are fully driving forces of the nation’s politics, without referring to the pending general elections due by September 14.

Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs and leader of the Congress of the People, a major partner in the People’s Partnership Government, Mr Prakash Ramadhar, a respectable criminal lawyer, said that, “the East Indians remain a pivotal and integral part of the multicultural nation of Trinidad and Tobago, and there continues the urgency for all peoples, Indi34 india empire | june 2015

ans, Africans, Chinese, Syrians and Europeans to work as a single unit. There is no option for any one or group of people, other than all of them, to work in concord and harmony”.

One of the highlights of the Government of India participation was the presence of the UP Folk Group led by Shri Jeetendra Parashar. Their presence on several stages across the country was co-ordinated by the Indian Council for Cultural Co-operation (ICCR), the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Cultural Co-operation and this country’s Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism.

The Mere Desh Committee (My Country) now led by the beautiful and enterprising Ms Savitri Praimsingh and which has been in existence for 25 years now, said that, “East Indian culture must remain at the pinnacle of the nation’s asset at all times because culture defines one another”. Ms Praimsingh has taken over the leadership of her father, Mr Ajit Praimsingh who passed away in February 2015 at the age of 62.

Every year, the Committee recognizes several young and old persons from the East Indian diaspora for maintaining and enhancing culture in all its form. The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, the premier Hindu organization, led by Satnarine Maharaj has hosted several religious and cultural functions which culminated on May 30 at the Parvati Girls’ College in Debe, South Trinidad. The National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) the epicentre of Indian culture, hosted a grand celebration on May 30 with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar as its Chief Guest. There were dances by the Kaizan Shakti Dance Group, Prem Shakti Dance Group, the internationallyacclaimed Dil-e-Nadan led by Raymond Ramnarine, Jhaal Ramayan, Nagara Dance and Kajari Bhajans.

Public Relations Officer of the National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC), Mr Surujdeo Mangaroo, said that the Indian diaspora must continue to claim permanence as they have arrived and have fully settled here. “The East Indian must never forget that it has to work with other groups in the enactment of a Caribbean civilization. The Indian diaspora worldwide is now a potent force, and we in Trinidad and Tobago must maintain this balance,” Mr Mangaroo said.

Mr Vishnu Boodhai, President, Caparo Hindu Organization which annually holds national spotlight, said that, “Hindus and East Indian culture must soar at all levels of the society as in it is a way of life for all mankind”. It hosted its celebration on May 24, 2015 where it honoured three national figures: Inspector Ajit Persad, Inspector Sahadeo Singh (posthumously) and 102 year old Heerah Dass. Among other honourees were former Prime Minister, Mr Basdeo Panday and now Minister ❐ of Foreign Affairs, Mr Winston Dookeran.

New reLeASe: MIGrAtIoN

INCREASED MIGRATION Book: Asian Migration Policy Editors: Mizanur Rahman & Ahsan Ullah Publisher: Nova Publishers

T

he size of population migrating either voluntarily or under duress across international borders has been growing rapidly. The growth of international migration has been facilitated by many factors. However, policy measures have definitely been playing an important part in shaping its global scope and pattern. Therefore, the policy framework rendered by respective governments and migration regimes largely determines the scope, volume and direction of international migration. While an emerging body of literature has begun to explore migration policies of nation-states, they are often found to be limited in its scope to policies of individual receiving states. Therefore, regional patterns in such policies remained essentially deficient. Also, what most of the study of migration policy concentrates on is the experience of Western developed countries. This has been manifested by the fact that migration policy was placed in two separate boxes which provided a clear rift between them (i) immigration regulation (the rules and procedures governing the selection and admission of foreigners), and (ii) immigrant policy, namely, the conditions provided to resident immigrants (e.g. work and housing conditions, welfare provisions, and educational opportunities) in their enforcement on the ground (Hammar, 1985:79; Meyers, 2000:1246). Some scholars

36 india empire | june 2015

however place three aspects of migration policy into context: (i) the regulation of immigration flows, i.e., immigration control; (ii) the management of ethnic relations and the integration of minorities living the host country; and (iii) antiracism and anti-discrimination policies (Giugni and Passy, 2006:I).

The migration policy in Asia is still an evolving phenomenon, lacking policy framework for what Hammar (1985) and Meyers (2000) call, ‘immigrant policy’, and Giugni and Passy (2006) call, ‘management of ethnic relations’ and ‘antiracism and antidiscrimination policies’. Therefore, admission and selections of permanent immigrants, temporary migrants, and refugees, and restriction of irregular migration in major sending and receiving countries in South, Southeast and East Asia. In particular, this volume attempts to advance our knowledge about migration policy in Asia into two realms: (i) the present status of emigration and immigration policy and its outcomes in a number of countries in Asia and (ii) areas of similarities and dissimilarities in migration policy and what explains the similarities or dissimilarities in Asian countries. This book addresses both the policymaking process and the means and efficacy of implementing it in the context of South, Southeast and East Asia. ❐

New reLeASe

MIGRATION STuDIES Book: International Migration and Development in South Asia Editors: Mohammed Mizanur Rahman and Tan Tai Yang Publisher: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

I

n migration studies, one of the more thoroughly investigated research questions raised since the 1950s is whether international migration brings about development in the emigrant countries in the global South. The nexus between migration and development has been meticulously debated over time, producing substantial literature on the topic (for a review, see Papademetriou and Martin 1991; Hammar et al. 1997; Sørensen et al.

2002; Spaan et al. 2005; Omelaniuk 2012; Faist 2000). However, researchers are still grappling to find a unanimous position to this question. This is because migration is a dynamic field, with the patterns, composition, size and nature of international migration constantly changing. This transforms migration into a more difficult research terrain that demands new conceptual approaches and research methods to explicate its complexities in their entirety. What is interesting about the study of this nexus is that with the changes in international migration, new theoretical approaches and research methodologies have also been applied to explain the nature of the relationship between migration and development. The study of this nexus therefore remains a field of continuous academic exercise. It is precisely this dynamic attribute that provides the much- needed rationale for this volume.

People tend to migrate to relatively developed economies, where they generally acquire an economic ascendance that they would be unable to achieve in their home countries. This advantage of access to comparatively developed economies allows the influence of migrants to reach deeper into their origin societies in different ways, affecting the social, economic and

political dimensions of the society. Drawing on the experiences of global South Asians, this volume primarily documents the impact of migration on the social, economic and political fields in the broader context of development. This volume also presents a regional experience by looking into the migration–development nexus in the context of South Asia – a region that has over 50 million migrants living outside the region (Tan and Rahman 2013). In addition, this volume also goes beyond reporting the impacts of migration on economic development (remittanceinduced), by highlighting the implications of ‘social development’ on society. Social development relates to the broader development processes that encompass the increase in incomes, accumulation of non- material assets including physical health, education and skills, and institutional aspect of development that allows individuals to translate their economic and human assets into personal welfare (Piper 2011; Van Naerssen et al. 2007; Sørensen 2012; Raghuram 2009; Faist 2008; Dannecker 2009; De Haas 2007). Thus, within the broad canvas of the social development approach, there remains room for both economic and social dimensions of development. This volume looks at the impact of international migration as a process, and views migration- led changes at the levels of the household, community and region in terms of a development process.

The power of international migration in inducing development in an origin country or region depends on three main factors: (i) the numbers involved; (ii) the duration of the movement; and (iii) class composition. South Asian countries are particularly relevant for documenting the migration- induced changes in society because the above- mentioned factors are remarkably present in the case of South Asian migrants and diaspora groups. ❐ june 2015 | india empire 37

DIASPorA LIterAtUre

Characters most familiar: The Indian diaspora in fiction

By Vikas Datta

p

oliticians, business magnates, sports stars - the Indian diaspora has done well for itself in its new homes around the world and, on a literary basis, crossed another test of acceptance with their depiction in fiction as regular, non-stereotypical characters. From police inspectors to businessmen to cooks in nearly half a dozen countries across four continents, overseas Indians are increasingly figuring in a range of splendid tales by a number of nonIndian writers.

Among the first possibly featured were way back in the early 20th century - and by no less than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Sherlock Homes series. Andamanese aboriginal Tonga appears in the detective’s second outing “The Sign of Four” (1890) but the second character is more substantial.

Mr Daulat Ras is one of the three scholarship aspirants suspected of acting unfairly in “The Adventure of the Three Students” (“The Return of Sherlock Holmes”, 1904). Described by his tutor as “a quiet, inscrutable fellow, as most of those Indians are”, Dr. Watson finds him “a silent, little, hook-nosed fellow, who eyed us askance” when they meet but Holmes is more discerning. For the next, we must pick more recent authors.

Mr Patel, who runs a grocery store in Lochdubh village up in the Scottish highlands, is a frequently-appearing character in prolific British writer M.C. Beaton’s Sergeant Hamish Macbeth series of whodunits, which currently number 31 - from “Death of a Gossip” (1985) to “Death of a Liar” (2015). He debuts in the second, “Death of a Cad” (1987). As our policeman visits his shop-cum-house, it is first Mrs. Patel wearing a “bright red sari” he encounters. “Och, Mr Macbeth,” she said impatiently, “Whit d’ye want at this time o’night?” The husband, a “small brown man with liquid brown eyes and a beak of a nose” is more welcoming. “Evening, Mr Macbeth,” he said.

“Will ye be havin’ a wee dram?”

You can’t be more integrated than that!

Then there is Lt. Raghavan of the New York Police Department in Matt Beynon Rees’ “The Fourth Assassin” (2010), the last installment of the Omar Yussef quar38 india empire | june 2015

tet. She is in charge of the investigation when our Palestinian schoolteacher-cum-investigator finds a headless body in his son’s apartment during a visit to New York. In an earlier post, I mistakenly noted that she doesn’t have a speaking part in her two scenes but the “short, darkskinned woman with straight black hair spraying across her narrow shoulders” with a “hard-pitched and sharp” voice does - and is quite sardonic.

As her Arab subordinate hesitates in reading a love letter seized as evidence, she goes: “Come on, bashful.

Translate,” and when he still demurs, she says: “Okay, fine, we’ll go back to the precinct house and dim the lights, and you’ll read me Romantic Rania’s letter over a nice bubbly flute of Chateau Budweiser.”

mr patel runs a grocery store in lochdubh village up in the scottish highlands, is a frequently-appearing character in prolific British writer m.C. Beaton’s sergeant hamish macbeth series of whodunits Colin Coterill’s Dr. Siri series set in the Laos of the 1970s has a pair of Indians resident in Vientiane. The extremely humble Bhikhu is the cook at the Happy Dine Restaurant and his estranged son Mr Jogendranath or Crazy Rajid as he is known, wanders around stark naked and speechless.

But his father reveals the traumatic basis for his condition - the deaths of their family by drowning in a shipwreck on their way to Southeast Asia. They debut in the second - “Thirty Three Teeth” (2005) and occasionally appear in others though Rajid plays a stellar role in the ninth - “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die” (2013), where he saves the life of Siri’s nurse and her child from a vengeance-seeking Frenchman by a colossal bluff - in crisp English!

An endearing character is Nairobi businessman Mr Malik in British-born, Australia-settled journalist-turnedwriter Nicholas Drayson’s “A Guide to the Birds of East Africa” (2008), an ingenious (but warm-hearted) love ❐ story-cum-zoological caper.

reCoGNItIoN

GAUTAM BANERJEE HONOURED An Indian-origin businessman has been honoured for his commendable public service in Singapore. Mr Gautam Banerjee, senior managing director at Blackstone and co-chairman of its Asia operating committee, as well as chairman of Blackstone Singapore, was awarded the prestigious Public Service Medal by President Tony Tan Keng Yam on May 30, 2015, AsiaOne online reported.

Having left Mumbai at the age of 16, Mr Banerjee worked with leading financial firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for more than 30 years, with nine years as its executive chairman, until his retirement in December 2012.

Once nominated a member of parliament in Singapore, Ms Banerjee currently serves on the board of Singapore Airlines Limited, the Indian Hotels Company Limited and is the vice chairman of the Singapore Business Federation.

He is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA).

“Their strong support has led to the development of

Mr Gautam Banerjee

new capabilities in their respective sectors, and created exciting job opportunities for Singaporeans,” Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) chairman Beh Swan Gin said in a statement.

Masaan’s CANNeS hoNoUr Emerging Indian director Neeraj Ghaywan’s indie project “Masaan”, which centres on a group of people in Varanasi, has won the Promising Future Prize at the ongoing 68th Cannes International Film Festival. The film was also honoured with the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award at the festival.

The film was showcased in the UnCertain Regard section at the movie gala, and received a five-minute standing ovation post its screening here. The film received the awards on May 23, 2015. Actress Ms Richa Chadha, who features in a key role in the film, has thanked fans for their support. “This is the best day! Keeps getting better. MY GOD.#MasaanAtCannes is coming home with 2 awards. Thrilled.

Thank you everyone for the wishes,” Richa tweeted on May 24, 2015.

Mr Ghaywan’s debut feature project, “Masaan” is set in Varanasi and follows the stories of four people from a small town and how they fit into the moralities. It also features Ms Shweta Tripathi, Mr Sanjay Mishra and Mr Vicky Kaushal. B-Town celebrities are proud of the team too.

Here’s how they expressed their happiness on Twitter: Arjun Kapoor: So ‘Masaan’ makes India proud overseas...hope n pray it gets the platform in India to be showcased to our audience

the way it deserves...

Nimrat Kaur: So brilliant! Many congratulations all! @RichaChadha_ @ManMundra @guneetm! Terrific news!

Kalki Koechlin: I so loved ‘Piku’ and DP in it, I’m so happy for ‘Masaan’ in Cannes and contrary to popular opinion, I can’t get over Dhadam Dhadam in BV. Onir: Congratulations to the entire team of #’Masaan’ for the double win at Cannes. @ghaywan Dia Mirza: Congratulations team #’Masaan’! @ghaywan @RichaChadha_ #Winner Aditi Rao Hydari: @RichaChadha_ amaaaaaaze! #Seeti june 2015 | india empire 39

SCrIPPS Bee

BOrn TO spell Two Indian American students have jointly won the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee competition successfully negotiating the words “scherenschnitte” and “nunatak” in a nail-biting final. Ms Vanya Shivashankar, 13, of Olathe, Kansas, and Mr Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, of Chesterfield, Missouri, were declared co-champions on the night of May 28, 2015 Ms Vanya correctly spelt “scherenschnitte”—meaning the art of cutting paper into decorative designs—and Gokul did likewise with “nunatak”—a hill or mountain completely surrounded by glacial ice. In this year’s national championship, 285 spellers competed for the title. Ms Shivashankar and Mr Venkatachalam put both their hands on the trophy and thrust it into the air on May 28 evening—after spelling word after word that few people could even hope to pronounce correctly.

“This is the second year in a row that the final has yielded co-champions,” Scripps National Spelling Bee said on its website. “Last year was the first time in 52 years that two people had shared the trophy, and 2015 marks the first time in the bee’s 90-year history that there have ever been co-champions two years in a row. This is only the fifth tie ever.”

In the last minutes of the final, Ms Shivashankar and Mr Venkatachalam “navigated and sometimes breezed through the championship words with poise, like tennis players returning near-impossible shots”, Scripps said in its report on the final.

Ms Shivashankar started with “bouquetiere” and Ms Venkatachalam countered with “caudillismo”. “It’s not the first time in this competition he’s proven he can handle a Spanish-derived word,” the announcer from ESPN that covers the event, held in National Harbor in the US state of Maryland, said. Ms Shivshankar then spelled thamakau, a word of Fijian origin that describes a large canoe. Mr Venkatachalam came up with scytale, a message written in a method of cipher used especially by the Spartans. “That’s how good these too are. For most spellers, that would be a nightmare,” the announcer said. “That dictionary is no mystery to them.” Among the words the two spelled on their way to the title were cypseline, urgrund, filicite, myrmotherine, sprachgefuhl, zimocca, hippocrepiform, nixtamal, paroemiology, scacchite, pipsissewa, bruxellois, and pyrrhuloxia.

40 india empire | june 2015

At this point, there were only four words remaining. “That meant that if both spelled their next words correctly, both would go home winners -- because there would be just two words left, not enough for a winner to spell two correctly in succession,” Scripps explained. After asking about the origin, part of speech, definition and alternative pronunciations of the word, Ms Shivashankar nailed the word “scherenschnitte”.

However, Mr Venkatachalam had no questions about the word “nunatak” and spelled it coolly. As the ticker tape rained down on the stage, the two young Indian Americans hugged each other. “This is a dream come true. I can’t believe I’m up here,” Ms Shivashankar said. But with nine bee appearances between them, it’s pretty easy to imagine that something this fitting would happen.

Ms Shivshankar, an eighth grader at California Trail Middle School, has competed in the national bee four other times. Last year, she tied for 13th place. Her older sister, Ms Kavya, was the 2009 National Spelling Bee champion. “This is a dream come true. I can’t believe I’m up here. I’ve wanted this for such a long time,” she said, adding “I’m dedicating this to my grandma, because she passed away in October of 2013, and all she really wanted was her grandkids to do so well, and I hope I make her happy with this.”

Mr Venkatachalam, an eighth grader at Parkway West School, came in third place in last year’s competition. After his victory, he said the competition was a culmination of six years of hard work. “I’ve dealt with defeat and success,” he said during the live broadcast. “I’m finally happy to have success.”

Law of Perseverance The impressive performance of Indian Americans at the Scripps National Spelling Bee could be due to their persever-

ance, hard work, well-educated parents and a milestone documentary that made them realise “we could do this”, according to a media report. “How hard a child works is a very individual factor... But what might be happening (with Indian American contestants) is that there might be perseverance for the National Spelling Bee goal over a longer period of time,” the Washington Post quoted Ms Paige Kimble, the Bee’s longtime director, as saying on May 25, 2015.

The contest, which has been won by Indian Americans for seven years in a row and all but four of the last 15 years, gets underway on May 26, 2015. In fact, Kimble’s analysis could not be misplaced as of all the Indian American champions in the last 15 years, only one, Mr Pratyush Buddiga, won the contest in his first attempt in 2002. The others, including last year’s co-champ Mr Sriram Hathwar, won after making several attempts.

But Ms Kimble is concerned about the racial aspect of the contest. Last year’s champions had to face a barrage of racist comments on social media websites that “indicate that we have a long way to go as a country in embracing all of our immigrant population”, Ms Kimble said. Despite experts not sure as to how they can explain the impressive performance of Indian American youngsters in the national bee compared with other groups, Ms Shalini Shankar, an anthropology professor at Northwestern University, said: “It’s hard to say it’s a coincidence.”

“You don’t see lots of spelling bee winners who are the children of assembly line workers or cabdrivers, even if they’re South Asian... You see children of doctors, you see children

of engineers,” the post quoted her as saying. Another factor that contributed to the success of Indian Americans in the contest was a 2002 documentary, “Spellbound”, which followed eight contestants to the 1999 national bee and shows Nupur Lala’s exultant victory.

“A lot of the spellers I interviewed said that was the moment they realised, ‘We could do this’,” Ms Shankar said. “So, if you count it down from when ‘Spellbound’ came out, it’s about a five- or six-year arc until they really started dominating.

The reach of that movie has been much farther than people realised.” But it is also thousands of hours of hard work that Indian American contestants put in to become champions.

“When the other kids are playing football or basketball, the Indians are doing spelling. I don’t think it has anything to do with Indians being innately better at spelling. It’s mostly just hard work,” said Ms Pratyush Buddiga, who won the contest in 2002. ❐ june 2015 | india empire 41

INtervIew

Mr Ashok Gajapathi Raju

“We want to incentivize manufacturing in India”

By Rohit Vaid

A

fter setting up units in India for wings, doors and beams for aircraft, a host of global aviation giants are pursuing facilities in the country to serve an industry, seen needing 1,400 new aircraft by 2020, says Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.

In an exclusive interview at his office in Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, just a stone’s throw from the majestic Safdarjung’s Tomb in central Delhi, Mr Raju said a host of global manufacturers regard India as their next major hub and market for both defence and commercial sector aviation. “Pratt and Whitney is one of the companies. They are very much interested in setting-up shop here in the coming time,” Mr Raju said. “We have met them several times to discuss their proposal. Things are at an advance stage.”

Pratt and Whitney is an arm of the US-based United Technologies, providing design, manufacturing and services for aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. Pratt & Whitney engines made their debut in the country in 1960, powering flag carrier Air India’s Boeing 707-437 aircraft. Mr Raju sees India emerging as a hot spot for aviation and allied industries, moving beyond the two big players in the aircraft manufacturing space, Boeing and Airbus that were operating in a host of areas, including sourcing of some key components from their joint ventures here.

“This is not just as an offsets option in defence deals, or to satisfy the purchase clauses, but also for making our country among their global hubs for manufacturing and 42 india empire | june 2015

sourcing,” the minister said, adding “Make in India” campaign, with ease of doing business, was being viewed seriously. He said added emphasis was being laid on the synergies between defence and civil aviation sector. “The defence offsets in the new procurement guidelines can also be used in civil aviation sector. This has the potential to give a major boost to this sector in the country. We are looking at it and will take it forward,” the minister said.

Offsets is the amount a global company has to invest in India as a percentage of the order value it gets from the government and its agencies, notably in the defence space.

The offsets from the Indian Air Force alone, for commercial aviation, are seen as a Rs.20,000-crore potential.

Mr Raju said talks were also on with the finance ministry to incentivise manufacturing in India. “We have the youth. We want employment and skilling to be done here.

Companies that are willing to bring both, or at least some part of their manufacturing here, will be fully supported and facilitated. This is our government’s policy,” the minister said.

“The global industry also sees some major plus points in India. We offer cost advantages ranging between 15-25 percent in manufacturing, depending on the type of business.

Indian industry, our people are capable enough to undertake complex manufacturing.” He also added the age-old problem of certification and quality assurance of the products made in India wasn’t a hindrance. “We have regular and rigorous quality checks. The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) is quite capable and in checks and certification,” Mr Raju added. ❐